


1 2 Twice That

by starkintern



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Arc Reactor Angst, Canon Divergence - Iron Man 2, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Iron Man 2, Its angsty but itll be ok in the end, M/M, Minor descriptions of injuries, POV Tony Stark, Palladium Poisoning, Theres a lot of fluff too, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Still Has Arc Reactor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 00:30:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17908625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkintern/pseuds/starkintern
Summary: “Hey, are you listening to me, Tony?”“I’m dying.”[A rewrite of an Iron Man 2 scene.]





	1 2 Twice That

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't been writing much because college work is dragging me down but during the weekend i rewatched some iron man 2 scenes and got inspired to write a quick "rewrite" of the scene where rhodey helps tony replace the arc reactor core but ironhusbands style.   
> i'm also really glad that the tag seems to be getting more attention cause i love this pairing & i love reading all of your writing!   
> i hope you enjoy this one! sorry it's kind of short, i only have the weekend to write stuff
> 
> also, just a quick note: remember that scene where tony forgets about pepper's strawberry allergy? i have a headcanon that it's because of the palladium poisoning messing with his memories, so you can see that i incorporated that here.

“Pepper says you’ve been having behavioral issues lately.” 

Tony doesn’t look up from the part of the suit he’s been working on for a few hours already, instead picking up a hammer and hammering away at some metal, “I didn’t know I was a five-year-old in a daycare. And who are you? The social worker? Are you going to put me in a different family, Mr. Rhodey? This isn’t how I envisioned our reunion, to be honest. I was thinking more making out and less talking. More of ‘I miss you’ and less criticisms of my behavior because I was, in fact, attacked. _Threatened_ , even. When did you get here, by the way? Jarvis didn’t notify me at all.” 

Rhodey has been dealing with army duties a lot more often lately, so they’ve spent some time physically apart from each other. Tony usually keeps an eye on the army’s records just in case, but there haven’t been new updates lately. Unfortunately, their reunion is quite the opposite of Tony’s expectations. Not that he’s surprised. Considering his recent impulsive actions, he’s surprised it took Rhodey as long as it did to start chewing him out for it. 

His partner isn’t amused considering what he says next, his tone of voice laced with exasperation, “Tony, this isn’t a joke. She says you’re being self-destructive, holing yourself up in here or drinking. You can’t afford to be like that when the army is ready to roll up in here and take every single one of your suits. You need to address this right now because they’ll only listen to me so much. I’ve been on the phone all day but I know that one day, they’re not going to give a shit about what I say and you’ll be left with nothing. You’re going to lose everything you have.” 

_No shit,_ Tony thinks, but fails to respond. He pauses for a moment, as if he’s thinking it through, before he goes back to tinkering. Unspoken words hang on the tip of his tongue, but he refuses to allow them to escape. Instead, he focuses on what he believes he does best, and that is ignoring his problems by building his path away from them. He knows that the army wants to take away his suits. He knows that he’s fighting a losing battle. However, he also knows that at this point, he only has a few days to live considering the extent of his poisoning and he has to put that problem ahead of the others considering the fact that he still hasn’t found a substitute. 

“I didn’t show up all the way here to talk to a brick wall,” Rhodey interrupts his thoughts as he stalks over, snatching Tony’s hammer out of his hand and also lifting it out of his reach, ignoring Tony’s weak protests, “I’m trying to help you, Tony, because they aren’t going to…hey. Hey, are you alright? You don’t look so hot.” 

He’s taken aback by the sudden change in conversation, but then realizes that this is Rhodey he’s speaking to. The two of them know each other more than they know themselves. As he mulls over the question, Tony finds himself wanting to say yes. He desperately wishes the word wouldn’t choke up in his throat, especially after he hears the amount of genuine concern and love in Rhodey’s voice. He wants to say that he is okay despite knowing very well that he is anything but. 

“Hey, are you listening to me, Tony?” 

“I’m dying.” 

The words are left hanging in the air, weighing down on Tony’s shoulders so much to the point of him having to sit down on his chair, the fight melting out of him as his shoulders sag. He could feel Rhodey’s eyes trained on him, even if his own eyes are trained on the ground, his hand toying with the sleeve of his shirt. His hands are illuminated by the faint blue glow of the arc reactor, which is one of the only bright light sources in the workshop at the moment; he makes a mental note to change it soon, he can practically _feel_ the core burning out.

When the silence only continues, he starts to feel his skin crawl with discomfort and naturally, Tony’s mouth decides to start going off, “The palladium core. It’s corroding and poisoning me. What’s supposed to be saving my life is also killing me – ironic, isn’t it? It’s not like I haven’t tried anything to stop it. I can’t find a substitute, I looked at every element in the book.” At this point, he isn’t even sure why he’s trying to explain himself, but he is. He still isn’t looking up. Is his floor really that messy? “Contrary to popular belief, I don’t want to die in vain but I…” _Don’t know what to do. I’m lost._

Tony isn’t sure what he’s expecting from his husband. He just hopes that it isn’t tears because he’ll end up in tears, as well. Ever since Afghanistan, the two of them have been through hell and back in terms of dealing with trauma together and he knows that this breaks Rhodey’s heart. He knows that Rhodey has visibly stiffened, his words hitched in his throat as the silence between them continues, hanging over them like a dark gray storm cloud ready to explode. 

His train of thought suddenly breaks and he flinches as he feels Rhodey’s hand clasp his shoulder but forces himself to relax, his own hand coming up to rub the area below the Arc Reactor. The hand on his shoulder remains there for a few moments before Tony finally hears Rhodey urge in an oddly quiet voice, “C’mon, let’s change it.” 

Tony blinks at him. “You’re not mad? That I didn’t tell you earlier?”

Rhodey fixes him with a look that basically has ‘are you serious?’ written all over it. Tony frowns at the wetness of his eyes, feeling his heart sink to his stomach. He wants to stand up and wipe away any tears, but he remains seated. “You’re Tony Stark. I’d be surprised if you did have the balls to tell me.” 

“I’ll let that remark slide for now.” 

As Rhodey sifts through Tony’s messy desk for a new Palladium core, Tony waits in silence, mulling through his options. He managed to get the main problem out but he still feels oddly guilty, and he knows damn well why. Only a few seconds pass before he suddenly blurts out, “I’m sorry.” Before giving Rhodey the chance to react or say anything, Tony continues with his seemingly endless waterfall of words, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I know that now that we’re married and everything I should tell you these things but I didn’t want to-”

“Burden me?” Rhodey guesses, and Tony weakly nods at that, grateful that he didn’t have to spit it out. “We both know that you could never burden me. Tony, how long have we known each other?” 

“Since college,” Tony replies almost automatically but then freezes as soon as he realizes that the specific time doesn’t come to mind like it always does when he’s asked; he always proudly announces it. He wracks his brain, knowing that the numbers are in there somewhere, but he comes up with nothing. Panic seizes Tony’s chest and he stumbles up from his chair, and he would have fallen if it weren’t for Rhodey’s reflexes. He feels Rhodey’s arm press against his abdomen and attempt to steady him and all Tony can manage to get out is, “I can’t…I don’t…I don’t want to leave you, Rhodey. I can’t remember it.” 

“Okay, okay, hey, relax,” his best friend keeps his voice low, but Tony can hear the worried edge to it. “You’re probably just tired, okay? If it turns out that it is the poisoning causing this, then we’ll figure it out when we get there. You’ve been up for a while. And you sure as hell aren’t going to leave me, don’t talk like that. Not yet. You promised me, remember?” 

_I do. I remember that,_ he thinks, relief flooding over him as he realizes that there are still significant things about his college past with Rhodey that he does remember. He knew that the poisoning has been causing him to forget some things, such as Pepper’s allergy to strawberries, but he’s desperately grateful to know that it didn’t take everything away from him. Not yet, at least. _I remember promising you that, and I remember that we skipped class that day just to talk for hours._ He doesn’t notice that he is speaking aloud until Rhodey makes a soft noise of agreement and approval. 

At this point, Tony wants nothing more than to sink into Rhodey’s arms and stay there until his thoughts stop being so loud and his chest stops causing him pain despite it being not as bad as usual. Rather than doing that, though, Tony focuses on evening out his breathing to prevent himself from spiraling right on the spot, even if Rhodey is well-accustomed to dealing with Tony’s panic attacks after Afghanistan. That is the last thing the both of them need right now, especially after what Tony has said. 

“The red box,” Tony finally murmurs, voice low, as his breathing relaxes but his head begins to swim, making him feel nauseated. “On the right. My right.” 

As Rhodey quickly finds the box of Arc Reactor cores Tony has stored, the engineer busies himself with his shirt. His hands weakly grasp at his shirt and once he has a somewhat stable hold on the black fabric, he attempts to pull it over his head. The once dull ache in his chest immediately upgrades to a more unbearable pain and Tony has to grit his teeth in order to keep it inside. In the end, he ends up in a rather awkward position with his arms raised in the air and his head buried in his shirt. 

“Is your pride not injured enough or can I help you?” Tony hears Rhodey ask and he shakes his head – or body, in this case, in refusal. 

“I’ll do it myself,” he declares as he attempts to ignore the pain flaring in his chest, although thankfully he manages to pull it off without too much struggle. He bunches the black shirt in his hands before carelessly tossing it to his nearby parked car, giving Rhodey a smug grin, “Huh. See? I told you I could do it.” 

“Yep, you did it, alright,” Rhodey agrees a little too quickly, but before Tony can question him on that the other man holds up a Palladium core. “Alright, we better put this in before your other one decides to do anything else. You wanna do it?” He extends his hand out and Tony eyes the core before reaching for it, his fingertips barely brushing against the smooth surface before he suddenly draws his hands away. 

“You can do it.” 

Rhodey arches an eyebrow in surprise. “You sure? You know your way around this more than anyone.” 

“I trust you,” Tony simply says. They make eye contact before Rhodey nods his head and takes the Arc Reactor out, making sure to be careful not to drop it. Tony watches as he turns it around and pulls out the used-up core. 

“You actually had this thing _inside_ of you?” He sees Rhodey’s eyes widen at the sight of the burnt-out core, a small tendril of smoke still rising from it. Tony is already used to the sight, unfortunately, and all he can do is shrug his shoulders. 

“I’ve had worse inside of me.” 

Rhodey casts him a withering look. “That better not be an innuendo.” 

“It wasn’t meant to be,” the corners of Tony’s lips curl into a smirk as he speaks, “but it can be.” 

Despite the lighthearted earlier statements, his frown returns as he watches Rhodey replace the core and place the other one on the table. The man puts a hand on his waist, the contact making Tony shiver merely because of how careful he is, and gently pushes the Arc Reactor back in, only using a little force at the end to make sure it’s secure. The both of them wait and exhale in unison as soon as it lights up, the bright blue hue a familiar sight for the both of them. 

“You first thought this was a bomb,” Tony reflects, remembering Rhodey’s horrified reaction to seeing Tony on his knees in the middle of the Afghanistan desert, hot skin littered with sand, beads of sweat, dried blood, and various bruises. Rhodey had warned everyone to stay back and tried comforting Tony even when he seemed to be ready to break down as well, and it was only a few tearful seconds after that Tony managed to explain to him that the blue light in his chest is the only thing keeping him alive. 

“Now that this is happening, I’m starting to think I was right. It feels like you have a ticking time bomb in your chest.” 

Tony wishes that he can offer his husband a wry smile and a witty remark, but he simply stays silent and keeps his eyes on Rhodey’s face, studying his features, afraid that the Palladium will one day make him forget. He can’t imagine it. He can’t imagine waking up one morning next to his husband, his best friend, and not remembering who he is or any of their history together. He doesn’t even _want_ to imagine Rhodey’s heartbroken expression as the words “who are you?” would frantically fly out of his mouth as he calls his suit over. And what if Rhodey is deployed? What if Tony one day forgets to wait for him and he comes home and - 

“You’re not going to forget me,” Rhodey firmly states, though Tony doesn’t miss the way his hands tremble as they grip his shoulders, “because if you do, I’ll be so insulted that it’ll make your memories come straight back.” 

The mechanic smiles softly and leans forward, pressing a soft kiss to Rhodey’s lips. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” When he draws away, he instantly notices Rhodey’s cheeks flushing, “We’ve been married for so many years and my kisses are still enough to make you blush? I guess I really _am_ that good.” 

Rhodey punches him in the arm but he blushes harder and can’t seem to hide his smile. “Shut up.” 

As the moment comes to a close, Tony figures he might as well pull his shirt back on and get back to trying to figure out a new core or try to identify the new threat looming ahead of them. However, before he is able to act upon any of his thoughts, he is stopped by Rhodey, who puts his hand on his chest. 

Tony feels Rhodey’s fingers begin to gently trace over the patterns that extend out of the Arc Reactor; they are small, thin branches, almost sinister in nature. The last time Tony checked on them, they were only on his chest, threatening to spread all the way to his ribs, but he feels Rhodey’s fingers trace all the way up to his neck and he swallows hard. As the branches extend and get longer, his time quickly begins to run out. 

Before panic can inevitably overwhelm him again, Tony feels himself get tugged into Rhodey’s arms, and he allows himself to sink into the touch, burying his face into the crook of his neck. He takes a deep breath, not even realizing how much he missed having Rhodey around. Lately they’ve both been busy, Rhodey with the military and Tony with his newfound identity as Iron Man, so their time together has been limited. Whenever they did come across each other again, their interactions were fervent, driven by longing and passion – they were only barely ever this soft these past few weeks until now. 

This time, the silence between them is comfortable. Tony closes his eyes and focuses on the warmth seeping through his weary bones, the way their bodies press against each other, the feeling of one of Rhodey’s hands in his hair and the other resting on his back. Their bodies sway a little, almost as if they are dancing to a quiet and slow song. The pain in his chest is forgotten, almost as if it never existed in the first place. 

“ _We_ will figure this out, Tones,” Rhodey assures him, his voice barely above a whisper, “and then everything will be okay.” 

For a split second, Tony believes him.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed it! i don't often write romantic fluff so i'm still trying to find my footing.   
> i have a few other unfinished drafts so hopefully i'll edit them and get them posted soon!   
> the title is from this song if you wanna check it out: [click here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNI3ndFfD0Q)
> 
> anyways, thank you for reading, and comments and kudos are always appreciated!   
> [my tumblr!](https://starkintrn.tumblr.com/)


End file.
